Join UNA-USA Dane County for a new, different and informative February Meeting​Where: Swagat Indian Restaurant, 707 N. High Point Roadhttp://www.swagatindianrestaurant.com/When: Tuesday, February 13

What: 6 to 7 PM Dinner (optional and dutch treat) 7 to 8 PM Sumudu Anopama Atapattu, Director of Research Centers and Senior Lecturer at UW Law School. She will give a presentation on Sri Lankan culture and current events.

Dr. Atapattu teaches in the area of International Environmental law and climate change and human rights . She holds an LL.M. (Public International Law) and a Ph.D. (International Environmental Law) from the University of Cambridge, U.K., and is an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Her books include: "Human Rights Approaches to Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities" (2015, Routledge, U.K); "International Environmental Law and the Global South" (2015, Cambridge University Press) (co-editor); and "Emerging Principles of International Environmental Law" (2006, Transnational Publishers, New York). She is affiliated with UW-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the Center for South Asia, and the 4W Initiative and was a visiting professor at Doshisha University Law School, Japan, in summer 2014 and Giessen University, Germany in summer 2016. She also coordinates the Human Rights Program at UW-Madison.

Margaret Hawkins is a professor of Curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Hawkins has developed the Global Storybridges Program that connects under-resourced, english-learning youth across the globe using current technology. She has worked in Uganda, Kenya, India, China and Mexico. *Cake and coffee will be provided*

"The Colombian Government and the FARC guerrillas signed a Peace Agreement to end 54 years of armed conflict, in which more than 200,000 people died and more than 7 million people have been displaced from their homes. Implementation of the Peace Agreement is underway, with a system of transitional justice designed to provide penalties for those guilty of crimes on a reduced scale in return for telling the truth about their involvement in the conflict. But.many obstacles to peace and social justice remain. I will report on what a delegation of the Colombia Support Network learned from a series of interviews we conducted in Colombia from November 7-17, and will assess the prospects for a successful conclusion to the armed conflict in Colombia."​All welcome to this public event.

UNA-USA Dane County Chapter's 2017 Luncheon: "Human Rights in a Time of Conflict"

The Silent Auction will take place at the annual Luncheon: "Human Rights in a Time of Conflict"Sponsored by the Dane County Chapterof the United Nations Association (UNA)Sunday, October 29th, 2017Monona Terrace, Madison11:45am - 2:30pm

Here’s what you can do to participate:1) You can donate a treasure from one of your travels – …or offer the donation of a ‘service’ – for example, preparing a Chinese dinner for 6 in your home – or offering your summer cabin for a weekend retreat!

2) Tell us about your donation – and write a few lines about it – Tell us where your item comes from – and add any specifics about minimum bids you’ll accept… or when the ‘service’ is available, or any other details.

3) Send this information to - jdeltoro@wisc.edu

​4) If you have an ITEM to donate, please attach a photo to your e-mail, so we can post it the UN Dane County website.

You can then take your item:- directly to Joann Elder’s home in Madison anytime in August or September – at 1112 Grant St (near the zoo)608-255-0533

5) And then, finally… come to the Fall Luncheon October 29th and place your BID!!

You’ll be getting your Luncheon Registration materials soon in the mail – watch for the flyer!

Request for Nominations for the 2017 Global Citizen of the Year Award

For the ninth year the United Nations Association of Dane County will honor one or more persons who have worked to improve the lives of others internationally or have worked to highlight the mission, value and goals of the United Nations. This award honors global work that improves the health, equality, environment, education, legal rights, living conditions, distribution of resources, rule of law or conflict resolution for people anywhere. It may also honor someone’s work to enhance the knowledge and understanding about the work of the United Nations.​The award will be presented on October 29, 2017 at the UNA Dane annual luncheon to recognize the founding of the United Nations. The award recipient is not required to be a member of UNA Dane County to receive this award and nominees are not required to live in Dane County, but they must work in Dane County.

Past honorees have been:

2016 Araceli Alonso for her Health by Motorcycle Project in Kenya

2015 Cecilia Zarate-Laun for her work helping Colombians create a peaceful participatory democracy and an economically just society.

2014 Joseph Elder for his peace keeping in Kashmir, Vietnam, Korea, and Sri Lanka and promoting the work of the United Nations.

2013 Vince Kavaloski for teaching the philosophies of peace and social justice.

2012 Sarith Ou and Roger Garms for the Cambodian School Project

2011 Lisa Fernandez for providing wheelchairs and school supplies to Nicaragua

2010 Norma Berkowitz for assisting the people affected by Chernobyl

2009 Jennifer Lowenstein for her work in Palestine

2008 Mike Boehm for his work in Vietnam

You are invited to submit nominations on the attached Nomination Form by July 1, 2017 to Todd Kummer, 6 Nokomis Court, Madison WI 53711 or by email at finchcrk@tds.net. We prefer that you submit nominations in electronic format.

Announcing Our 2017 UNA Project CARE FOR THE CHILDREN OF CAMBODIA The 2017 project of the Dane County Chapter of the UNA-USA Goal: To raise $3,000

Cambodia will be a recurrent Dane County United Nations Association theme in 2017. We have invited Professor Thierry Cruvellier, author of a book on war crimes in Cambodia, to be the speaker at our Sunday October 29 UN-Day luncheon (save the date). We have invited Sothy Tep, a member of the Cambodian parliament, to give a public lecture September 12 here in Madison. And we have promised to provide $3,000 to Edgewood College's Cambodia Service-Learning Program by December 2017.

Every May and January Edgewood College students, under the supervision of Nursing Professor Claude Rochon, travel to Cambodia to teach and deliver medical supplies to Cambodian clinics that serve children. Our funding goal for the Edgewood College Program in Cambodia is $3,000. We have already committed to give the Cambodia Service Leaning Program an advance of $1,500 (half of our $3,000 goal) to support the May 2017 program. Checks payable to “Dane County Chapter of the UNA-USA” can be sent to: UNA-USA Dane County Chapter, P.O. Box 5155, Madison, WI 53705. You can also contribute by credit card or PayPal at unadane.org. Either way your donation is tax deductible. ​By giving to our 2017 UNA Project, you will help children and communities in Cambodia in need of medical attention and supplies. You will also help Edgewood College students benefit from international service-learning experiences. You will also help further goal number 3 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” You will also enact the motto: Think globally; act locally.

The Kamentsa Indigenous of the Colombian Andes: 500 Years of Exploitation to Our Global Struggle for a FutureTuesday, March 14th3rd Floor, Downtown Public Library (7pm-9pm)

Public Lecture presented by (Steve Bray, former engineer with Caterpillar corporation, who gave up his engineering career to work for the indigenous communities in the Andes mountains of Colombia) United Nations Association of the United States of America - Dane County Chapter Co-sponsored by the Institute for Regional and International Studies

The Annual Meeting will be followed immediately by Edgewood College professor Claude Rochon's presentation on "Edgewood College Student Projects in Cambodia" -- free and open to the public

Dane County Chapter of UNA-USA Achieves its 2016 Goal!November 1, 2016 – Joseph W. Elder, President of the Dane County Chapter of the United Nations Association of the USA, announced today that the Chapter had successfully achieved its targeted goal for 2016 – raising $3,000 to give to the World Food Program. The World Food Program assists the United Nations in feeding the world's refugees and displaced persons. The Dane County Chapter, with the help of many of its members, raised the $3,000 by co-sponsoring a “Run for Refugees,” organizing a UN-Day luncheon, holding a silent auction, and receiving donations.

“The World Court: A Conversation by Skype with a UW Grad Student now Working in the Hague”7:00 PM, 3rd floor, Downtown Public Library, UNA Public LecturePresented by Allison Perlin